


The Balance

by Multifandomwriter1



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Flashbacks, What I want to see happen in the next movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-10-19 10:21:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10637889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multifandomwriter1/pseuds/Multifandomwriter1
Summary: "Stars, hide your fires, Let not light see my black and deep desires." —Shakespeare





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written a Kylo Ren and Rey fic before but I was heavily inspired by the most recent trailer for The Last Jedi (screams in excitement). The whole Light, Darkness and Balance thing really intrigued me and I decided to write about how I think the balance can be restored to the Force by Kylo and Rey. It's not a particularly romantic fic but mostly just about their connection and mutual understanding. It's a 3 chapter fic and I really hope you all enjoy it! I update as fast as I can :)

All at once, she feels him in her bloodstream, in her veins, in her mind.

It's sudden; enough to make her jolt upright, her thin clothes clammy on her flushed skin. Heart radically pounding, her eyes adjust to the darkness surrounding her. The sound of cresting and cascading waves are a soothing reminder that it was, in fact, just a dream.

_It was just a dream._

But it feels like so much more.

Not a vision; it isn't the future. It isn't events, it isn't a warning of things to come. Too deep to be a dream, too uncertain to be the future, too tranquil to be a nightmare.

Luke's is there, his warm presence at her side almost instantly. "Was it the dream again?" He doesn't have to ask but he does anyway, something Rey appreciates.

She pushes back the sheets, unable to handle laying down any further. Pacing around the small, dark stone remains of the former temple, she can only make a few strides before having to turn. Luke waits, patient and unwavering. She envies his peace, his constant state of wisdom and knowledge. Tightening the muscles of her jaw, she turns to face him again.

"It's not a dream. You know that."

There's a shift in his eyes, so slight that most people would miss it. Rey isn't most people to Luke; being trapped with him on the island for so long has taught her some of his behaviours. Solitary and initially hesitant about training her, he keeps so many secrets from her that each day that passes, she grows more and more frustrated. He had been oddly specific when asking her about Kylo Ren; he seemed concerned but when she pressed for more information, he retreated away. The more she pushes, the farther back he draws. It's a tug of war, one Rey is not willing to play.

He continues to say nothing and Rey can feel her agitation drill up her spine, hot and fast. "You know it's not a dream. Tell me what it is. Tell me what the...feeling is." She wishes she could sound more demanding, more authoritative, but her throat is too hoarse.

Luke blinks before drawing to his feet and Rey knows this conversation has been over since the second it started. "You aren't ready yet."

"I'm ready." Rey tries again, favouring a less impatient tone. "I am ready, Luke."

"No," Luke corrects her, moving lightly on his feet towards the door. "You aren't."

And he leaves her. Alone and in the dark, afraid to shut her eyes again. Part of her resents him, the other part of her is secretly grateful to him for sparing her the harsh facts in that moment. She wants the truth about what's happening so badly that it burns. What comes with it will be unspeakable levels of pain; Rey can sense this and it holds her back.

The Jedi. The Sith. The Dark Side. The Light.

For everyone else, it seems to be so clear cut and vivid. Everything for the others is separate.

For Rey, it's all a puzzle with each piece being a fraction from each side. In her mind, everything fits together uniquely and creates a far larger picture than what other people seem to see and understand.

After he leaves, she can't sleep and Luke is nowhere to be found so she slips out of her bedroom and starts walking. Walking is something she's grown familiar with; her entire childhood, she was forced to walk for miles across the blazing hot desert sand. Her feet have permanent calluses from years of friction, which as an adult, has it's advantages. Underfoot, the rocks and sharp pebbles hardly faze her as she navigates her careful path towards the outcropping overlooking the sea.

Grey clouds cut across the sun which is just beginning to touch the horizon with its golden hands. Sunrise has always been Rey's favourite time of day. To her, it's a start, a beginning of something, unsoiled by the negativity that encompasses her daily life. Sunrises mean hope to her, the hope of something new for a new day.

Swinging her thin legs over the ledge, her hands plant on either side of her, fingers grazing the patterns the wind has etched into the stone ledge. Rolling her shoulders to release the tension between them, she closes her eyes and breathes.

_In and out._

_In and out._

Her chest rises and falls in a synchronised pattern. Moments like this, when it's silent with nothing but the sound of the waves and the occasional caress of the wind on her face are when she really feels the peace she so desperately searches for.

_Rey. These are your first steps._

The words replay, over and over like an incessantly ticking clock.

It was never Luke's voice in her vision. She could tell that when she first met Luke. It was someone else's, someone who she knows nothing about but still has the inner pull towards.

_The Force calls you._

She doesn't know who whispers that into her mind but it latches on at once. She likes the way that sounds; the Force seems to have all the answers to all her questions but it won't let her in the way she expects it to. She fights the Force, wrestles with it, tries to throw herself into it's powerful grasp but every time she gets closer, it pushes her out.

Luke warned her about surrendering to it, he warned her about completely letting it envelop her. There is too much room for darkness in her if she does, he had cautioned. Rey initially accepted this with wide and admiring eyes.

But now, as she sits alone and lonely, she just wants to listen to the waves and fall under the spell of the Force. Let it wash over her like the tide and this time, have it reach out to her. She is aware of the dangerous darkness that lurks in the Force, watching her, but Rey is finding herself to be more and more comfortable with that idea as time ticks on. Let it watch, it's not as if she's truly doing anything worthwhile out here in the middle of nowhere.

Rey is tired. Physically. Mentally. Spiritually. She wants to sleep, sleep for hours and not be lost inside the maze in her head, made from her own insecurities and questions.

_A night desperate to sleep._

This voice is a memory, one that filters in more than she'd like for it to. Not because it disturbs her but because it is achingly accurate. She used to think that she had trouble sleeping before her training...perhaps Kylo had been really speaking about her future.

Kylo Ren.

She hasn't really thought about him in a while; the name makes the space between her shoulders suddenly tense. He's another question that floats around constantly. Just because she hasn't thought of him, doesn't mean she can't feel him. Sometimes a stray thought, sometimes the feeling of warmth in her system. As if imprinted into her skin, she will feel the rough material of his heavy clothes that had brushed against her during their interrogation. And sometimes, rarely as Rey always pushes it away quickly, the sensation of him towering over her still lingers, as she relives how he had brought himself so close to her that she could inhale the scent of him.

And his eyes. Dark and wide and full of agony.

She'd seen dying animals with less pain in their eyes.

A pain, a flash, suddenly overcomes her and her eyes fly open. The sun is completely covered by the grey clouds; time has passed. Rey doesn't know how much. Time is an unnecessary measuring system on the island.

Licking her dry lips, she feels her pulse in her throat. She isn't in pain; he is. No matter how much she denies it, it's a truth embedded into her subconscious. For a fleeting second, she's tempted to shut her eyes again and search for the feeling, find him in the Force. Does he feel her the way she feels him? Rey wonders this as she pushes herself to her feet and begins to walk back to Luke.

Luke is subdued by the time she finds him near the top of the island, where they first met. Brushing a stray lock of hair out of her face, she brings herself up next to him.

"You know the truth. I don't have to explain it." Luke doesn't look at her.

Rey sucks in a breath of the cool air around her. From her position on the rocks, high in the sky, she feels stronger. Braver. "How can I make him leave me?"

"You can't."

The answer is blunt. Rey turns her head sharply. "Why not?"

"It's a bond. The Force binds us all. He awakened it in you and because of that, your connection to him as just as integral as his to yours."

Rey calms the quell of anxiety in her stomach. She digs her nails into her palms and takes another balancing breath. She can't imagine living with him in her mind for the rest of her life; it was too much to handle, too much pain and conflict for a daily basis. "Luke, there has to be some way."

"I imagine he's in the same predicament right now." Luke's tone is dry and level. Meant to quip her interest.

It does.

"Explain."

"In every person who wields the Force, they have the equal capacity for light and darkness. Be---Kylo, has been struggling between the two since before he came to train with me. Any action that he does or happens to him can influence his delicate balance. You are the pull to the light he so desperately attempts to avoid. And you, the Light, are now a part of him more than ever."

The explanation doesn't comfort her, it doesn't do anything other than send rolling waves of panic through her. Her teeth are clamped so tightly together that they ache. Everything aches; her head, her heart, her future. Being bound to someone who wants her dead...she can't imagine a worse fate.

"I don't want this." Rey wants to run away, just start running and never stop. Run somewhere that he won't follow.

It's a foolish dream to have. There is no place in all the galaxies that his pain won't follow.

Rey does the best thing she can do in the moment. Gravel and dust kicks up under feet as she scrambles down the rocks, heart in her throat and the pulsing pain growing louder and stronger. Luke calls after her, she thinks that's what she hears. Her name echoes in the air, hanging in the sky as heavy and low as the clouds.

She slips, slamming her leg into a sharp rock formation. Ignoring the pain, ignoring the blood, she keeps going until her body is numb from the cold and the wind.

Pausing for a breath, she drops on her knees. _A kaleidoscope of chaos, that's what it is,_ she thinks to herself. A distorted and constantly changing fractal that is always orbiting around her like the planets. She doesn't want any of this. It was a mistake to find Luke, a mistake to join the Resistance.

_It calls to you._

The voice is back. Neither Luke or Kylo's or anyone else she's ever known. And yet, as she hears it, the voice is like an embrace. Gentle and reassuring.

Rey's heart slows down, her ribcage stops rattling with each laboured breath. Looking amid the sheets of rain, she realises that she's never seen this side of the island. Flat and black, the rocks are wide and chill to the touch under her bare, battered knees.

The sky cracks with the lightening again, illuminating her vicinity. There's a hum in the air, of both electricity and something else. She can feel it under her skin, out of control and so much stronger than she can fight.

She isn't scared. It's too peaceful to be scared of. Her eyes sink shut, her mind relaxes.

_Rey can see a young boy, already impossibly tall and skilled. His hands wield his saber with precision that is remarkable. Luke appears behind him, murmuring words of approval. The boy smiles, genuine and pleased._

_Like a strike of lightening, the smile vanishes, panic floods his dark eyes. He shudders, trancelike, until Rey sees and **feels** him crumple to the ground, tears running down his pale face. She has the compulsive urge to run over to him, comfort the boy, but she can't. Her limbs are cold and dead as she stands motionlessly watching._

_Luke touches the boy's shoulder but the boy pulls away, stumbling to his feet and running away. Past Rey and all that remains is Luke standing with something she's never seen in his eyes before. Fear._

Rey's eyes fly open and she's staring at the grey sky. It isn't a dream, it isn't a nightmare.

It is the Force. Reaching out to her. Telling her something.

Rey stands up, anxiety melting away and shaping into something else. Was that boy really the menace who killed his father in cold blood? She can't fathom it.

_You are the pull to the light he so desperately attempts to avoid._

Rey remembers Luke's words as vividly as if they are said to her then and there. She's the yin to Kylo's yang, the calm to his storm, the light to his darkness. Two separate people with interconnected lives and fates.

Rey doesn't want to reach out to Kylo. Not after the horrors he's done.

Maybe it's her responsibility, maybe it's her calling to do so. Maybe the Force was trying to help her see the good in him so that she, the only other person with the ability into his mind, can reach out to him.

Standing in the rain with nothing but her own spite and fire that simmers inside of herself, she turns and begins to walk back to Luke. 

One foot in front of the other.

_In and out._

It is time for the full story on what truly happened to Ben Solo.


	2. The Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry that it took so long to update! I was out of range of Wifi for a few days. But I'm back now and will post the final chapter very soon!

Kylo lives for the moments that he can feel her through the Force.

Waves of peace, however infrequent, touch him every so often. Not enough to leave a lingering taste, just enough to sedate the contestant knot of anxiety inside of himself for a little while.

The memory of their confrontation in the forest replays like a broken tape, sometimes without his own control. Almost as if she's watching it in her mind as well. Looking at his bloody fists, he can still remember how she felt in them. She was the most delicate thing his rugged hands had touched in years. Everything else around him was sharp and edged; she was soft and incredibly human.

A reminder of what he had once been.

She's growing stronger. Shattering through her shell of insecurities, she flys to new heights. Kylo should be impassive but despite himself, he is rather interested in her progress. He knew how powerful she was the moment he saw her for the first time.

Kylo absently touches the scar she etched onto his face with one hiss of her blade. Snoke wanted to remove it entirely but Kylo vetoed that; it's another reminder, one he can wear now.

A reminder of what she could be.

_The pull to the light._

"Bring her to me." Snoke orders this again, increasingly more serious.

Kylo hesitates before the Supreme Leader, before replying, "She's unimportant."

"You didn't think so before."

"Those were different circumstances. She isn't important anymore." Kylo's voice is steady, even. Convincing.

Snoke knows him better, he knows every corner of Kylo's mind. Kylo can convince the entire First Order but nothing he says can ever convince Snoke any different than the truth.

Snoke sits back in his lofty throne, god-like and serene. Looking down at his young, thin pupil, he feels oddly nostalgic. He remembers every single detail of Kylo's life, from the moment the Force blossomed into the child's mind. He's a parasite, latching onto Kylo and in tune with every pain, thought, feeling and memory. Ignoring the fact that he violates every ounce of Kylo's privacy, he gives Kylo an impassive look.

"Then go to her and I will follow."

Kylo's lips are dry under his tongue. To remain entirely stoic is impossible, not with the gnawing pain of Snoke subtly slipping into his mind. Pushing away his own insecurities, Kylo replies, "I don't think she matters. She's nothing but a scavenger girl."

"To the First Order, she's an inconvenience. To you, she's something different. Tell me about her."

He's prying, pushing into Kylo's most locked away thoughts. Kylo's eyelashes shudder briefly before he hears himself saying, "She's strong in the Force. She has the ability to be stronger than all of us."

The words hang in the air so heavy that Snoke can almost breathe them in. His twisted face changes a fraction, from placid to sharp. "Surely not stronger than you or I, Kylo Ren."

And Kylo doesn't answer which is plenty of an answer for Snoke. Snoke's groomed sense of pride and privilege elevates, indignation filling his empty shell of a body. He thought he had removed Kylo's insecurities, ripped apart Kylo's sense of fear.

Snoke leans a little closer, taking a better look at the man before him. A realisation comes over him as swiftly as a tidal wave; Kylo isn't afraid at all of Rey. Quite the opposite.

Nothing akin to infatuation or sentiment. But curiosity. Intrigue. Interest.

 _Curiosity killed the cat_ , Snoke thinks.

Snoke studies Kylo before shifting back in his throne again, never breaking eye contact with the angular and peaked face below his. "Go to her."

Kylo visibly is surprised by this for a millisecond before hiding his thoughts quickly. "Why?"

"I want you to go to the island."

Kylo's dark eyes become slightly dazed as Snoke rapidly picks apart Rey's location in Kylo's mind. Her connection to him is too much of a gamble. Kylo is a wild card now because of her.

 _It's a shame too, Kylo was such a good student. The best yet_ , Snoke thinks to himself.

Aloud, he says, "I see the island. You see it to. Go there. Kill Luke Skywalker. Train her yourself. Then bring her to me."

"And if she declines the offer?"

"Kill her."

Few things shock Kylo Ren. Few things confuse him. Snoke's order send both of those feelings rushing through him. He pauses but his words do not convey his hesitation. "If that's what you want, Supreme Leader."

The Supreme Leader in all his self righteous and exalted glory gives the man beneath him a final look from his narrow eyes before dismissing him altogether. And Kylo obediently leaves, his footsteps fading away into the hollow hallways.

 _Kylo should know better_ , Snoke thinks bitterly. _The girl, the pesky scavenger, is blinding him._

Kylo is too bewildered by the order to question it, too curious and too tempted by the voice in his head telling him to follow the flickering rays of light that beckon him on the island.

_A night desperate to sleep...Rey stands amid the shifting sands of Jakku, her throat growing hoarse from her screeches for her mother and father. They're gone though, flying away without a look back. Kylo watches the girl collapse onto the sand, her shoulders shaking until her cries are silenced by a disgusting brute of a man who pulls her away._

Cold perspiration clutches at his skin as he bolts upright, the visions of young Rey screaming for her parents still vivid as ever. He's thinking about her too much, she's getting into his head. He has enough of his own burdens from his childhood, he doesn't need to see her's.

Although he can't help but pity her. To be alone, abandoned...it hits too personally for Kylo. He had clung to the fact that she was nothing like him, his complete opposite in every way. Yet underneath the layers of darkness and light, their core emotions are parallel.

Two desperate humans who know all too well what it's like to be numb from pain.

He tells himself that the moment she sees him, she'll kill him. She hates him, she called him a monster in his face. Kylo accepts this fact silently, preparing himself for the absolute worst reaction by her.

_This is a suicide mission._

And getting up, he sees it through the ship's window. He sees the island through the sheets of rain that pummel the cold world.

Kylo's fingers loosen their grip on his saber.

For the first time in his life, he doesn't want to use it.


	3. The Balance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The finale! Thank you all for your support! I apologise for any spelling errors, I'm so tired I may have missed some! Hugs Xx

Rey stands on the rock outcropping, the presence of Kylo Ren drawing closer as the hum of his ship comes into earshot. The speck of it grows on the horizon; her eyes are so focused that she doesn't feel the drops of rain falling from the sky and dampening her clothes.

_Breathe, Rey._

Obi Wan's voice is soft in her mind, a gentle whisper. Rey closes her eyes and listens to it. She trusts him explicitly. She knows what to do now.

Luke has helped her put together the pieces of her past as best he can. Rey has grown in more ways than one over the months. She's put aside her animosity, her hostility she had collected over the years. The fire that burns so deep she hasn't let go of it yet; that motivates her to move forward from her past.

Luke told her about Obi Wan Kenobi; the man who is her grandfather. Despite herself, Rey always knew her parents were never coming back. Maybe they aren't dead. Maybe one day she'll try to find them. See why they left.

She never would have come to terms with it if it wasn't for her grandfather's soft voice in a dream, telling her that it was for a good reason. A reason she may never understand, but in her parents' minds, it had been logical. And one day, she can follow that reason to them. 

They're out there. Somewhere.

She can feel it in her bones.

After weeks of persisting, Luke told Rey the story of Ben Solo's turn to the Dark Side. His story formed inside of her mind, piece by piece, until she the fragments came together in a complete picture. Watching his ship near her, she repeated his story over and over in her mind.

She had told Luke that it wasn't her job to make Kylo a better man. Luke had agreed before pausing and adding, "It isn't your duty to make him a better person. But I cannot reach him, his father couldn't or his mother. Rey, he is a part of you now and you will not feel whole again until he does."

Compassion had blossomed slowly, over the hours. Excusing his actions is something Rey can never do but excusing is different from understanding. Understanding is something that can reach deeper than mere dismissal.

And there he is. The man she has thought about for weeks on end. She sees him leave the ship and begin to ascend to her. They're too far away to make eye contact but he sees her and with each step, a hum grows beneath her skin. Her heart rate quickens in her chest and she replays her grandfather's words in her mind again.

Kylo's mask is gone, in more ways than one. As he comes closer and she does not retreat away, she sees a line between his eyes and a scar running down his face. With a pang, Rey realises that she caused that. She wonders why he kept it, surely there are ways to mend that.

Air is cold in her lungs as she inhales deeply. Calmly. She's found her inner peace, no longer grappling with the Force. It flows through her veins as smoothly and consistently as her bloodstream.

Had this meeting happened a few weeks ago, she would not have hesitated to pull out her lightsaber, to swing it at him in reckless abandon. Now it presses against her thigh, strapped to her belt, untouched.

And she stands there, the picture of cool tranquility.

And he stands there, the picture of war and pain.

He's at her level now, getting to the outcropping where she is. The waves crash beneath her, rolling and cascading. It's powerful and uncontrolled and for some reason, Rey thinks of Kylo as the water beneath them. He comes closer, until he's about ten feet away and then pauses. Looking at her, completely still. His hand doesn't go towards his saber.

She had wondered what she'd say to him all those weeks. Initially, she wanted to scream at him, snap and fight. That feeling evolved into desperation, the nagging urge to just beg him to come to terms so she could control the visions of him as a child that frequented her brain.

Now she knows exactly what to say, the words taking control on their own accord. Swallowing, squaring her shoulders, she looks Kylo in the eyes and says, "I know who you are."

His expression flickers. Of course she knows who I am, he reasons to himself. Kylo Ren, Master of the Knights of Ren.

Rey stands completely still, for the first time in her entire life, unafraid. She doesn't see a monster anymore and even if he does threaten her with his saber, she won't be scared.

_The Force will always be with you, Rey._

"I know who you really are. I've heard the stories, I've seen what happened to you. From this point forward, no matter how hard you may try, you will never convince me that you have always been a monster."

Kylo's eyelashes shudder briefly, his curls that fringe his face growing increasingly sodden. "Look at you. Thinking you know me now just because you heard a few stories."

"You are not Kylo Ren, you never were." Rey's tone cuts through the misting air around them. "You are Ben Solo, behind a ridiculous mask."

The name makes Kylo flinch. To hear her say it, to hear her roll it off of her tongue with firm resolve sends a cold feeling through his system.

"You can keep wearing masks and hiding behind them," Rey goes on, the boldness flooding her, pushing out each word. "But you will never hide from me again. And I will always be the light inside of you. You can't get rid of me."

Kylo doesn't know what to say, can't bring himself to form anything in his mind. He watches her, feels the rain on his battered shell of a body and listens to her words.

"So you can either come to terms with that fact, or you can kill me right now. But all of this, the visions, the nightmares, the imbalance...it ends today. Right now."

He wants to believe her. He's desperate for a night to sleep, a moment where he doesn't feel the weight of his atrocities on his shoulders, a moment that he doesn't feel his father's hand on his face.

He can feel his heart beating faster, his fingers beginning to tremble. As much as he wants to believe what Rey says, it's too late now to come home. There's too much damage, he's passed the point of no return.

"It's too late." Kylo's voice is flat and hard. Unemotional. 

Rey takes a step closer. A dangerous move but one she is willing to make. "Let me take you home. Your mother—"

"Leia means nothing to me." Kylo speaks with such venom that Rey almost retracts back a step. Filling her lungs with oxygen, she steadies herself.

"Ben," Rey says, careful not to let her tone shift. "If forgiveness is what you are looking for, if that is all you want, I can't give that to you. Not unless you ask for it."

She sees him swallow, his jaw tighten. For a moment, she thinks he's going to grasp his saber but he doesn't. He just turns and begins to walk way.

Away from her.

Away from any chance at freedom.

Tension rises in her throat for a flashing second. This can't be possible, there is too much light in him to continue in the Dark Side. It's too loud and pulsing, too fresh and close to the surface. Rey's lips twist together and most subconsciously, she follows him, rushing down to find him walking down the stormy shoreline towards his ship.

"Ben, please listen to me"

"Stop calling me that name." His eyes flash brightly as he swings around. Rey is glad for a reaction of some kind from him. At least he's taking her words personally and not just ignoring her.

"It is your name though. Ben Solo. Son of Leia Organa and Han Solo, grandson to Anakin Skywalker." Rey begins to close the distance between them. "Let go of your hatred, Ben. You say you want to be free of this pain? Then do something about it."

It burns like fire inside of himself, eating him alive. Every muscle aches, every though feels preyed upon by Snoke. And Rey is speaking to him as if he is more than a machine and it terrifies him.

But he does stop walking. He freezes, his rising and falling shoulders the only sign of movement or life to him. It's silent in exception for the waves and it's almost soothing to them both. She can feel the conflict within him, a beating and pulling heart all of its own. She wonders for a moment where Luke is on the island, if he's watching this all unfold. 

She doesn't have to see Kylo's face to feel the warm tears prickling his dark eyes. Maybe they're too connected on that level; Rey absently touches her own cheek and can feel the tears on her face as well. She lets him stand there, his back turned, and waits. She'll wait all day for an answer if she has to.

Finally he turns around.

"Rey," is all he says and the sound of his voice pronouncing her name sends a wave through her. "It's too late for people like me."

"No, no it isn't." Rey closes the distance between them, tilting her head back slightly to look him in the eyes. He's staring at her and his eyes give away how he's really feeling.

Her fingertips are gentle skimming the scar on his face. Human contact makes him shudder slightly; her hand pauses her a second, then resumes running her finger across his skin.

When he says it, his voice is so low that the wind and waves almost snatch the words away entirely. His throat constricts slightly as he says, "Forgive me, please. In some way."

Rey can feel her anxiety wash away with the tide, fading away into the soft sand. Letting herself look him in the eyes she sees levels of remorse and pain that are insurmountable. But she can try to ease them. She isn't obligated to, she doesn't have to, she is not forced by anyone or anything as she says, "I forgive you."

When someone is truly repentant, that's all they truly want to hear. As he sinks to his knees in an almost worshipful position, a silent beg for mercy, his legs cannot support himself anymore. Rey presses his head against her waist, knotting her thin fingers through his hair. Closing her eyes, she lifts her head back and feels the rain on her face. It washes away the sweat and tears and soaks into her skin. Levels of calmness that she didn't realise could exist in herself soothe every nerve in her body.

And every nerve in his as well.

For the first time in his life, Kylo exhales softly and lets the decades of tension leave him. Even if it's just for a moment. 

 _The time has come for the Jedi to end with the First Order._ Obi Wan's voice is firm and unquestionable in her mind.

As Rey holds Kylo, it paints a picture for Luke as he approaches the outcropping and sees them on the beach. The two embodiments of light and darkness have intertwined, becoming a perfect uniting force. 

Rey knows only one truth and one alone.

_It is time for the balance to be restored permanently._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave comments or kudos if you enjoyed this! :)

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this, please leave a comment or kudos! They're always appreciated. Xx


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